2026 Kia Sportage: Facelifted RAV4 rival to offer more hybrids

Australia’s favourite Kia is about to get a much wider range of hybrid options, as the Korean brand looks to broaden its portfolio of electrified vehicles to meet new government emissions regulations.

The facelifted 2026 Kia Sportage is due to arrive during the second quarter of the year (April-June), and the company’s local product boss has indicated hybrid versions of its key model lines are about to become much more available.

“[Hybrids] for example, in Sorento and Carnival, they’re strictly GT-Line variants. You’d expect the variants to follow, obviously, will sit below the GT-Line,” Roland Rivero, general manager for product at Kia Australia, told CarExpert.

While Mr Rivero didn’t explicitly call out the Sportage as part of the expansion, nor would he be drawn to comment as to what exactly to expect from the facelifted range, it’s understood the Sportage Hybrid (HEV) will expand beyond the current SX and GT-Line variants currently on sale.

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Unlike the Sorento and Carnival HEVs, which are supply-constrained to as little as around 20-30 units per month, each, the Sportage HEV has been capped at around 300 monthly units across two distinct trim levels.

The hybrid Sportage is also only available with front-wheel drive in Australia, despite an all-wheel drive version being offered in overseas markets.

By comparison, sister brand Hyundai offers a similar hybrid drivetrain in the related Tucson in its latest iteration, but in both FWD and AWD variations across all four core trim levels in Australia.

Similarly, the top-selling Toyota RAV4 offers a sprawling range of variants and is hybrid-only as of mid-way through 2024. It’s available in both FWD and AWD versions.

An increase in availability and supply could also mean the Sportage HEV AWD is also on the cards for Australia as part of the facelifted lineup, though at this stage Kia Australia hasn’t confirmed if the all-paw version is coming.

Other key upgrades expected for the facelifted Sportage lineup include the latest connected car navigation cockpit (ccNC) infotainment displays as we’ve seen in Kia’s recent releases, incorporating the latest Kia Connect suite of online services and remote app functionality; as well as the semi-autonomous Highway Driving Assist feature.

“As we get closer to the wholesale dates… more will be revealed,” said Mr Rivero.

The increased availability for the Sportage HEV, in addition to hybrid versions of the Sorento and Carnival, are part of a wider electrified product rollout that will help Kia to meet the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).

This was introduced from January 1, 2025, but won’t be enforced and punitive until July 1, 2025. Brands will need to offer more fuel-efficient or electric models to offset vehicles that produce more emissions.

For the first year, the mandate for passenger cars (Type 1) is 141g/km of CO2, with light commercial vehicles and heavy-duty SUVs (Type 2) set at 210g/km or less.

In the case of the Sportage, only hybrid versions come under that threshold, while the 2.0-litre petrol, 1.6-litre turbo-petrol and 2.0-litre turbo-diesel versions all eclipsing that limit.

In addition to more hybrids, the new emissions laws could force Kia Australia to consider newer, cleaner versions of the existing powertrain lineup, given local models are homologated to Euro 5 standards and miss out on fuel- and emissions-saving features like idle stop/start technology despite being fitted to overseas models.

For reference, the Korean-market 2026 Sportage 1.6 T-GDI quotes emissions of 134-160g/km depending on tyre spec and drive type (i.e. FWD/AWD). It’s worth noting the new model swaps out the existing seven-speed dual-clutch transmission for an eight-speed torque converter unit, which may have helped reduce consumption and emissions.

South Korea has mandated Euro 6 emissions standards for passenger vehicles and small- and medium-sized trucks since September 2015.

Stay tuned to CarExpert for future 2026 Kia Sportage updates, and share your thoughts with us in the comments!

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